History of Translation Studies 10

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学期论文（结合学期所学，撰写一篇5000以上单词的英文论文，按照专业杂志的格式，题目、摘要、关键词和参考文摘需要英中，文章英）。学期论文成绩占70%，平时成绩（含课堂表现、展示及作业）占30%。

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Functional Equivalence

On functional equivalence and formal equivalence and their application in translation 陈静静 Chen Jingjing

Abstract

Translation plays an indispensable role in modern cross-cultural communication. In this process, translators are supposed to achieve the equivalence between the source text and the target text to the greatest extent. Translation theory is of great importance to steer them towards this. Nida put forward the well-known theory of formal equivalence and functional equivalence which pursues the equivalence in form and content and that in function between the two languages separately. This paper focuses on their introduction and differences as well as their application in translation so as to provide more guidance for translators and promote people’s deeper understanding on functional equivalence and formal equivalence.

key words

functional equivalence, formal equivalence, translation

摘要

翻译在现代跨文化交际中起着非常重要的作用，而在这一过程中，译者需要尽可能实现源文本和目标文本之间最大的对等。翻译理论在其中则对译者具有非常重要的指导作用。奈达提出了“形式对等”和“功能对等”理论，“形式对等”是以源语为中心，追求原文形式和内容之间的对等，而后者强调实现两种语言之间功能上的对等。该论文主要对形式对等和功能对等进行简单介绍并分析两者之间的差异以及它们在翻译之中的运用，以使译者对它们有更为深入的了解。

关键字

功能对等，形式对等，翻译

Introduction

As a specific form of cultural activity, translation is characterized by the interactive conversion of bilingual (original language and target language), but this does not mean that translation is limited to a certain language operation or language activity. This phenomenon of bilingual interaction or cultural interaction with language as a mediator, and the resulting variations in phonetics, words, grammar, and style, are by no means covered by linguistic theory.

Nida, a American linguist, translator and translation theorist, conducted his academic activities based on the translation of the Bible. During this process, Nida proceeded from actual conditions and developed his own translation theory, which eventually became one of the classics in translation studies. Meanwhile, he believes that translation should play a communicative role due to its essence. During the translation process, it is necessary to consider factors such as the author, text, background and readers so as to make the recipients understand the translation more easily. It is actually based on this idea, the concept of functional equivalence theory came into being. He pointed out that the theory of functional equivalence includes form equivalence and content equivalence. When the two contradict, he is convinced that the content comes first and the form comes second. This is also the first principle of functional equivalence. The second principle of functional equivalence is that you can’t simply focus on content as Nida believes that content precedes form does not mean that translators need to give up form and devote themselves to content. He suggested that when the translator cannot take into account the two at the same time, he should consider the content first, and at the same time, try to make the style of the translation close to the style of the original text. In order to balance the relationship between the two, Nida also proposed a series of improvements. The third principle is that Nida requires natural and smooth translation. In order to obtain a true and smooth translation, Nida believes that readers of the source language and cultural context and target language must be considered.

Functional Equivalence

In order to set a standard for the transition between the source language and the target language, Nida, based on the essence of translation, put forward the theory of dynamic equivalence but later replaced it with the name of functional equivalence as he was convinced that it will better reflect the communicative function.(尤金·奈达．语言文化与翻译［M］．严久生，译．1998)

Functional equivalence mainly includes lexical equivalence, syntax equivalence, textual equivalence and stylistic equivalence. According to Nida, when translating, you need to use the most appropriate, natural and equivalent words to express the information of the source text, that is to say, functional equivalence is prior to formal equivalence. Therefore, we need to try to achieve equivalence in form when we pursue the equivalence in content. In the book “Language, Culture, and Translation”, Nida divides functional equivalence into “minimal equivalence” and “maximum equivalence”. The basic point of “functional equivalence” is to compare the way of understanding and appreciating the original text by the readers of the target text, and requiring the readers of the target text to be able to perceive the translation. The extent to which readers of the original text understand and appreciate the original text( the minimum functional equivalence), the readers of the target text should basically be able to understand and appreciate the target text in the way that the original reader understands and appreciates the original text( the maximum functional equivalence).

To accurately reproduce the source language culture and eliminate cultural differences, the translator can follow these three steps. First, the translator should strive to make the translation not only conform to the semantics of the original text but also reflect the cultural characteristics of the original text. However, two kinds of languages represent two completely different cultures and similar elements may exist in the two cultures but they can't be exactly the same. Therefore, it is impossible for a translator to fully display the cultural connotations of the original text. Second, if meaning and culture can’t be taken into account at the same time, the translator has to abandon the formal equivalence and achieve the purpose of reproducing the semantics and culture of the original text by changing the form of the original text in the translation. Third, when changing the form still doesn’t work, the translation technique of “reconstruction” can be used to achieve the equivalence in meaning between the source text and the target text. It means transforming the deep structure of the source text into the surface structure of the target text , that is, the cultural connotations of the source text could be elaborated by words of the target language. In terms of the the status of source text and the translator, according to this theory, minor adjustment of the source text is allowed when necessary but we are not encouraged to modify it. Consequently, it seems that the source text is in a high position so the translator must give preference to it. From the perspective of translation standard, domestication is preferred in functional equivalence when we consider the cultural factors. What’s more , it is commonly used in literary translation. Functional equivalence is of great importance for it brings the contest between the literal translation and free translation to an end and provides a new translation standard, but on the other way, it turns the translation into an activity merely concerned with language.

Formal equivalence

Formal equivalence, though seeking equivalence as well, focusing mainly on the form and content, attempting to achieve complete consistency of information and structure between the source text and the target text. It includes three parts: (1) Consistency of grammar, that is , grammatical elements of the source text should be consistent with those of the target text. (2) Consistency of expression, which means the words and phrases of the target text should keep the original connotation expressed in the source text. (3) Consistency of the meaning in the source context, signifying that the context created by the source text should be kept in the target text. (UGENEA．NIDA．,2005:167）

Gloss translation can best reflect the features of formal equivalence as explanation will be used to better reappear the meaning and context of the source text, thus enabling people to have a better understanding of the source language and the source text. This is, however, hard to achieve for there are great differences existing between different languages especially between Chinese and English. From the perspective of linguistics, the biggest difference between them is that Chinese is a parataxis language while English is hypotaxis, that is to say, English is an overt cohesion-prominent language and its clauses are often arranged with connectives while Chinese is a language that connectives are not compulsory and its clauses are often short and its structure is not so complex as that of English. Besides, the former is a more static language in which nouns and adjectives are always used, but the latter a more dynamic one, verbs are more active. English has a systematic grammar but Chinese seems freely arranged. Furthermore, in English, nouns, prepositions and pronouns are always used like personal pronouns “we” “they” “you” and relative pronouns “that” “which” “whose” in long and complicated sentences to make them more explicit and avoid repetition. In Chinese, pronouns are rarely used as the structure of the sentences is relatively loose and short sentences are preferred, so it seems more appropriate to use verbs. From the perspective of voice, it is evident that passive voice is frequently used in English especially in texts concerned with science and technology as western people seem to be more objective when viewing the world and they attempt to employ passive voice to make their description more objective. Chinese, however, are more subjective, so they often use active voice to express opinions.

Relationship between functional equivalence and formal equivalence

In the book “Scientific Exploration in Translation”, he proposed and distinguished the concepts of “formal equivalence” and “dynamic equivalence”. “Formal equivalence” means stressing more on information itself, in terms of both form and content. This sort of equivalence, however, is rare, so he lays stress on dynamic equivalence.

For formal equivalence, source text is prior to other elements, so the translator must strictly follow the ideas, sentence structure as well as rhetoric. In this case, the translator are not allowed to add any other information at will and is restricted by many factors. Nevertheless, for functional equivalence, the translator can supplement their own understanding on the basis of the source text to make the translation more lively and vivid, actually a better and more innovative way to reproduce the source text. Take a sentence for example: “ I gave my youth to the sea and I came home and gave my wife my old age.”, this sentence can be translated into different versions. If with a way of formal equivalence, it can be translated into “我把青春给了海洋，我回家时，给妻子的只有迟暮之年。”, which seems more direct and similar to the original sentence in structure. When translated based on the functional equivalence, it will be like this: “我把青春献给了海洋，等我回家见到妻子的时候，已是白发苍苍。”, which is much more vivid and easy to understand for the target readers.

Functional equivalence and formal equivalence, though stressing equivalence in different aspects, are actually interdependent. Form in translation refers to the rhetorical function and skills as well as the sentence structure. Without formal equivalence, we are not able to guarantee the accuracy of the translation let alone achieving functional equivalence. Likewise, without functional equivalence, formal equivalence will be meaningless.

Furthermore, functional equivalence and formal equivalence are both regarded to be relative. (余敏军，2009:193）That is to say, this sort of equivalence is impossible to be wholly and fully achieved as a great number of differences exist between Chinese and English. Chinese and English differ in language structure, mode of thinking, cultural background and etc. As a matter of fact, sometimes when we translate Chinese into English or English into Chinese, we can’t even find the corresponding word thus even more difficult to achieve the equivalence in lexis and sentence structure. From the perspective of cultural influence, readers of the source text and the translation will hold different views even towards the same thing due to different cultural backgrounds. For instance, Chinese people will express their feeling by dint of material objects while the Western countries focus more on science and will employ it to account some social phenomena.

Translation is the reproduction of the source language information in the most appropriate, natural and equivalent language, including the reproduction from semantics to stylistics. That is to say, in Nida’s view, functional equivalence should take precedence over formal equivalence, but it is not only about content, regardless of form. While achieving equivalence in content and information, it also requires equivalence inn form as much as possible. But actually of the two, priority is given to equivalence in content.

Application of functional equivalence and functional equivalence in translation

Functional equivalence and formal equivalence are vital translation theory for guiding the translation practice. This theory has lifted the restrictions of traditional ideology and provide a new perspective for translators.

Lexical equivalence

Firstly, as I have mentioned above, sometimes it is difficult to find the corresponding word when translating. For instance, in China, “慢走” is frequently used when our friends or guests we are not familiar with is going to leave. People in western countries, however, are unlikely to express in this way. Instead, they simply say “Bye” or “Have a nice trip!”. The latter actually will be used only when friends plan to travel somewhere far away. These two expressions in English bear different meaning compared with the expression in Chinese. Therefore, faced with such situation, we have to choose words or phrases to express it in a different way based on the context. For example, we can express it as “Take care. Hope to see you soon.” to express our feeling in a polite and emotional way.

Furthermore, there are some words or phrases containing cultural connotations in both Chinese and English. When translating such words or phrases, we must explore the underlying meaning and try to explain it in detail, helping readers to have a correct and good understanding towards it. Take “Achilles’ heel” for instance, it can be translated into “阿格硫斯的脚后跟” in a direct way. However, Chinese people knowing nothing of “Achilles’ heel” will find it difficult to understand. Considering the needs of people under Chinese background , we have to explain this word and uncover the real meaning this phrase intends to express. Actually, Achilles, the son of Neptune, is a heroic person. It is said that his mother dipped him wholly except his heels in the river Acheron to make him impervious to sword or spear. Thus this phrase is supposed to translated into fatal weakness. Likewise, “Victoria girl” should be translated into “思想保守的女性” as England was relatively conservative in Victoria period so later Victoria, the queen’s name, was used to refer to those conservative women.

It is very common that a word in English may bear several different meanings so in this case, we have to guess the meaning according to the context. For example, the word “club”, which is very familiar to us, can be used as a verb as well as a noun. At the first thought, “俱乐部” will come to our mind but in the following sentence, it doesn’t make sense if we translate “club” into “俱乐部”. “When civil rights leaders are clubbed, whipped and tramples by white lawmen as feral white onlookers cheer, the youngsters seemed aghast.” In that sentence, it is obvious that “club” is used as a verb. Considering the meaning of “whip” and the original meaning of “club”, we can find that “club” here may refers a sort of hitting. Consequently, we have consider carefully over and over again and determine the meaning of a word after having grasped the rough meaning of the sentence.

Syntax equivalence

Syntax equivalence is far more complicated and difficult to achieve compared with lexical equivalence with great differences existing between Chinese and English. Therefore, we need to employ proper translation skills to cope with different sentences.In English, people prefer to be direct so the most important part of the sentence is most likely to be presented at first while in Chinese, people are accustomed to organize the sentence in a natural order, that is, from facts to conclusion or from reasons to result. Sometimes we can translate the sentence from word by word or phrase by phrase but in most cases we will change the order based on the common expression ways of target language to make the sentence more understandable to the target language readers. The example can be seen as follows: “Additional social stresses may also occur because of the population explosion or problems arising from mass migration movements--themselves made relatively easy nowadays by modern means of transport.” Translation: 由于人口的猛增或大量人口流动（现代交通工具使这种流动相对容易）造成的种种问题也会对社会造成新的压力。

We can see that in the Chinese version, order of the reason and the result is reversed to make the sentence more smooth. When translating, we can choose literal translation so as to achieve the formal equivalence or we can seek free translation to based on functional equivalence. In daily life, we Chinese often greet people with “吃了吗?去哪啊?” as we regard food as something that matters much to our life. As a matter of fact, these words bear no actual meaning but a simple way to greet. Thus we will translate that sentence into “Hi, how are you? What a nice day, isn’t it?”. There is a special kind of interrogative sentence in English called disjunctive question like the following dialogue: “You’re not a student,are you?” “Yes, I am.” Here, in this dialogue, we can see that the answer is positive but if translated into Chinese, it will be like this: “不，我不是学生”, which actually is negative.

Texual equivalence

Text, or discourse is a coherent and cohesive unit, achieved through one or more sequences, which are composed of components that are closely related to each other. Pursuing the equivalence in words or sentences can absolutely not satisfy, we need to pay more heed to textual equivalence. A sentence can be translated in different ways but we have to choose one based on the context.

Example: “祥子！”她往前凑了凑：“我有啦！” “有了什么？”他一时蒙住了。 “这个！”她指了指肚子。“你打主意吧！” Translation: “Xiangzi,” she came closer. “I am in trouble!” “What trouble?” He was startled. “This!” She pointed her belly. “What was you going to do about it?” According to China’s traditional customs, women would always express their being pregnant in an indirect way like “我有了” in Chinese instead of “我有孩子了”. In this situation, “我有了” here is translated into “I am in trouble!” as she conceives a baby before she marries, which is deemed as a behavior that is in grave breach of the norms of Chinese society.

In addition, we need to take the situation or background in which the texts took place into account and endeavor to get the inner connotation it bears. Example: So that when lieutenant Osborne, coming to Russel Square on the day of the Vaux hall party said to the ladies,” Mrs Sedley,ma,ma,I hope you have room, I haveasked Dobbin of ours To come and dine here, and go with us to Vaux hall. He was almost as modest as Joe. Here “modest” in the last sentence can’t be translated into “谦虚的” as it will confuse the readers and it is far from that. According to the description of Joe above, we can figure out exactly his characteristics, so we can reasonably infer that it actually means shy.

The last element we should never ignore is cultural context given that there are great cultural differences between English and Chinese. We are supposed to consider the cultural background of the author of the source text as well as certain hidden or ineffable Connotations. Example: She had thin blond hair and her face was pretty and Petite in a Regency way, oval like a miniature, though she had a harsh way of speaking--perhaps the account of the school, Roedean or Cheltenham Ladies’ College, which she had not long ago left. We can’t simply translate it into “长着细细的淡黄色头发，脸蛋娇小玲珑，一副摄政时期的模样。” as here the word “Regency” still seems confusing to us. Instead, the translation should be like this: “她长着纤细的淡黄色头发，漂亮的鹅蛋脸小巧玲珑，颇符合摄政时期的风范......” and add the explanation that “ ‘Regency’ refers to the period the son of George the Third reigned, during which those slender women are regarded to be the most gorgeous.” In this way, readers will have a more clear sense of this.

Stylistic equivalence

Popovic put forward the stylistic equivalence and define it as the functional equivalence between the source text and the target text. We will find different types of texts in the process of translation and we must achieve the equivalence in styles according to the functional equivalence and formal equivalence theory. Such equivalence is best reflected in the translation of poetry, which is characteristic of rhyme and cultural connotations. Example: 清明 杜牧 清明时节雨纷纷，路上行人欲断魂。 借问酒家何处有? 牧童遥指杏花村。 Translation by Wu Juntao: The Pure Brightness Day By Du Mu It drizzles thick and fast on the Pure Brightness Day, I travel with my heart lost in dismay. “Is there a public house somewhere, cowboy?” He points at Apricot Village faraway.

In this translation, “清明节” has been translated into “Pure Brightness Day”, which may seem not completely fit as it simply reflect the features of this day from the surface. In this way, target readers may have little knowledge about this and treat this day as a normal pure and bright day. However, functional equivalence and formal equivalence theory can be vividly reflected in the following content. The translator has achieved equivalence both in content and form as he rhymed and expressed based on the form and content of the source text, trying to make target readers have a good understanding of the source text based on the information expressed in the translation.. Translation by Xu Yuanchong: The Mourning Day By Du Mu A drizzling rain falls like tear on the Mourning Day; The mourner’s heart is going to break on his way. Where can a wineshop be found to drown his sad hours? A cowherd points to a cot ’mid apricot flowers.

In this translation, Xu Yuanchong attempts to give a more detailed and vivid description of the scene and the feeling of the person in this poetry. In addition to simply expressing the content from the surface, he digs the deep connotations the poetry contains, thus making the translation more simply to be understood and the target readers grasp a deeper understanding of the content, theme and emotion.

Conclusion

Translation theory has been playing an vital role in the process of translation, as always said, theory guides practice while practice testify to theory. Functional equivalence and formal equivalence theory matters a lot and has guided a great deal of translation practice. Though having gone a lot of years and some limitations having been found, Nida’s theory is still worthy learning whether at present or in the future. Therefore, we should choose to apply functional equivalence or formal equivalence based on specific condition to achieve the most appropriate and fit translation.

Proper application of formal equivalence helps to preserve the spirit and unique features of the source text and to further promote people to have a good grip of foreign culture and customs. However, more often than not, it is difficult to find an English sentence pattern that is completely equivalent to express the same connotation in Chinese. Therefore, the translator needs to convert the deep structure of the source language into the surface structure of the target language, that is, using the corresponding words in the target language to directly explain the connotation of the original text, so that the target readers can more easily accept the translation. According to Nida’s translation theory, dealing with cultural differences is closely related to the reproduction of the source language in the target language from semantics to stylistics. Only when the translation reproduces the style and spirit of the source language from the language form to the cultural connotation, the translation can be called an excellent work. This method provides a good example for translation studies in every countries. For our country, it reminds us that translation studies should absolutely limited to the field of translation. We must break the boundaries of disciplines and combine other sciences to study translation. In this way, translation theories derived from scientific evidence will be much more scientific and systematic.（张赟娇,张 军,2018:114)

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Functional Equivalence in the Translation of Ken Liu 肖茜 Xiao Xi

Abstract

Hao Jingfang’s science fiction Folding Beijing won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2016. The success of this fiction is inseparable from Ken Liu’s rigorous translation work. Focusing on the response of the target readers, the translation of this fiction not only retains the meaning and style of the fiction, but also effectively transmits the Chinese culture, which is in line with the requirement of the theory of Nida’s functional equivalence to “quality of a translation in which the message of the original text has been so transported into the receptor language that the response of the receptors essentially like that of the original receptors”. The theory of Nida’s functional equivalence, one of the earliest translation theories introduced into China, has produced a profound effect on translation studies in different literary genres. This paper studies the English translation of Folding Beijing and analyses Ken Liu’s application of functional equivalence in translation, and proves the value of functional equivalence theory in the translation of science fiction.

Key words

Functional Equivalence; Folding Beijing ; meaning; style; culture

摘要

郝景芳的科幻小说《北京折叠》获得了2016年的雨果奖最佳中篇小说奖，该小说的成功，离不开刘宇昆严谨的翻译工作。该小说的翻译以关注译文读者反应为出发点，既保留了小说的意义与文体风格，又有效传递了中国文化，这与功能对等理论提出的“努力创造出既符合原文语义又体现原文文化特色的译作”的要求相契合。奈达功能对等理论，是最早被引进中国的翻译理论之一，对中国各文学类型的翻译研究影响深远。本文对《北京折叠》的英译本进行研究，分析刘宇昆在翻译时对尤金奈达功能对等理论的运用，展现功能对等理论对科幻小说翻译的价值。

关键词

功能对等；《北京折叠》；意义；风格；文化

Introduction

In the science fiction Folding Beijing, the future Beijing is overpopulated. In order to solve this crisis, people transform it into a folding city with strict hierarchy. The folding city is divided into three spaces. They share 48 hours, and the first space is occupied by the upper classes of society, who have a 24-hour time cycle at their disposal; The second space is occupied by the middle class, who can spend 16 hours; The third space is inhabited by the lower classes, who have only eight hours of the night. Lao Dao belongs to the third space. He wants his daughter to go to a good school, and he ventures into the second and third space to deliver letters to others in order to make money. Although the novel is a futuristic science fiction, it is also realistic, revealing the class differences in the process of urbanization and modernization. This science fiction novel has many Chinese characteristics and has many local Chinese words. The cultural differences between China and the West caused by regional factors and customs are a big problem for translation. The translator should not only consider the readers’ understanding and feelings, but also ensure that the local colors in the works are not deleted. Functional equivalence theory shows that translation should not be limited to form, and translators can make necessary adjustments to the form and structure of the original text, so as to achieve the equivalence of content and information. Nida’s functional equivalence theory has exerted a far-reaching influence on China, and also brought new and effective translation guidance methods to translators. We can see that when Ken Liu translated science fiction, he was also trying to achieve the balance and coordination between the translation and the original text. From the perspective of functional equivalence theory, this paper analyzes the English translation of Folding Beijing from the perspectives of meaning, style and culture, and discusses how the translator achieves the closest equivalence with the original text and whether the ideal equivalence is achieved.

1.Eugene A. Nida and His Theory of Functional Equivalence

Eugene A. nida, an American scholar and translator, he explains the dynamic equivalent translation in his influential work Toward a Science of Translating. Dynamic equivalence aims at the closest and most natural equivalence between the target text and the source text, and focuses on the equivalence of readers’ response, not just the equivalence of content and form. In his book The Theory and Practice of Translation, Nida defined dynamic equivalence as follows: Dynamic equivalence is therefore to be defined in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the message in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language.（Nida，2004：24）Nida’s dynamic equivalence theory requires that the translation readers’ response to the translation should be consistent with that of the original readers. Since dynamic equivalence is controversial in some aspects, Nida replaced dynamic equivalence with more perfect functional equivalence in 1993. There are a number of related principles that govern the degree of adjustment necessary to produce a satisfactory equivalent translation. As functional equivalence translation is defined as the closest and most natural equivalent translation of the source language information, three principles should be followed by translators to achieve functional equivalence. In order to achieve functional equivalence, the translator must make the translation fit(1) the context of the source-language message, (2) the receptor-language reader’s response, (3) the receptor language and culture as a whole. Nida defined the reader’s response as the essence of his functional equivalence theory, that is, from the form and content of information to the reader’s response. It is different from the traditional translation theory, which emphasizes the comparison of verbs between the original text and the target text. Functional equivalence concerns reader’s responses. If the target language reader’s understanding and appreciation of the target language is essentially the same as that of the original language readers, the target language can be regarded as a functional equivalence. In other words, the functional equivalence of Nida emphasizes the reader’s response to the translation.

A Study on Yu Guangzhong’s Chinese Version of The Importance of Being Earnest from the Perspective of Functional Equivalence 余妮 Yu Ni

Abtract

The Importance of Being Earnest is a satirical comedy of manners written by Irish playwright Oscar Wilde in the 19th century. Dialogues in this play are sharp, witty, and full of epigrams, which are not easy to translate. There are many Chinese versions, among which the most popular one is Yu Guangzhong’s version. From the perspective of functional equivalence proposed by Nida, Yu Guangzhong’s translation has its own merits. Guided by the functional equivalence theory, this paper explores the translation strategies of the drama title, characters’ names and dialogues in Yu’s version. It helps to create more excellent translation and promote the development of drama translation.

Key Words

Functional Equivalence; The Importance of Being Earnest; Yu Guangzhong

题目

功能对等理论下余光中译《不可儿戏》分析

摘要

The Importance of Being Earnest是19世纪爱尔兰剧作家王尔德所写的一部讽刺风俗喜剧。他的作品妙语逼人，警句诸多，想要译得传神并不简单。在众多译本中，余光中的译本《不可儿戏》最受推崇。从奈达提出的功能对等视角分析，余光中的译本确有其出色之处。本文以功能对等理论为指导，探究余光中译本中剧名、人名及人物对话的翻译策略。从而创造出更优秀的翻译作品，推动戏剧翻译事业的发展。

关键词

功能对等；《不可儿戏》；余光中

Introduction

The Importance of Being Earnest is a comedy of manners written by Oscar Wilde in the 19th century, which is also his most successful comedy. In this play, there are plenty of sharp dialogues, as well as aphorisms. Among its various Chinese versions, Yu Guangzhong’s is the most popular, which not only tells us the fabulous story, but also remains the flavor of the source language when translating. This thesis analyzes Yu Guangzhong’s Chinese version of The Importance of Being Earnest from the perspective of functional equivalence. We can know more about the language features and translation strategies of Yu Guangzhong’s version. This chapter generally introduces the background and significance of the research, including the layout of the thesis. Nowadays, researchers pay more attention to the study of translation. In order to gain experience from famous translators through their translation, scholars carried out a series of researches towards Chinese versions of this play. Chen Yaoyao (2019) studied Yu Guangzhong’s translation strategies from the perspective of dualistic nature of the drama. Shi Qiulei (2011) analyzed Yu Guangzhong’s translation strategies from the perspective of cultural turn. Liang Wei (2009) and Shen Zhengrong (2007) compared two Chinese versions of The Importance of Being Earnest. Liu Guilan (2015) did the research on the secularization in its Chinese version. “The first Chinese version of The Importance of Being Earnest was Tongming Quyi (《同名娶异》) co-translated by Kong Xiangwo and Wang Jing in 1921, which came out by the May 4th Movement and the New Culture Movement in order to promote new literature and the reform of drama in China” (Wu Shanshan, 2012). Although it was the earliest version, it did not gain much attention. In the 1980s, Yu Guangzhong and Qian Zhide translated the play respectively. Yu Guangzhong translated it as “不可儿戏”, while Qian Zhide translated it as “名叫埃纳斯特的重要性”. As far as I am concerned, Yu’s version is more acceptable for readers. It has been put on the stage in Guangzhou and Hong Kong for many times, while Qian’s version is rarely followed. American linguist Eugene Nida put forward the theory of “functional equivalence”, that is, the translation and the original context should achieve equivalence in functional aspect, rather than rigid correspondence word by word, which coincides with the principles of Yu Guangzhong’s version of The Importance of Being Earnest. Through the study, we are able to gain suggestions of drama translation and produce excellent works. In this way, readers become more interested in foreign works, which is also beneficial to cultural diffusion. The thesis comprises five chapters. The first chapter mainly introduces the research background, significance and layout of the thesis. Chapter Two gives an introduction of functional equivalence, including others’ views on it and its features. The next chapter focuses on Oscar Wilde and The Importance of Being Earnest, as well as its Chinese versions, especially Yu’s version. Chapter Four is the core of the thesis, which appreciates and analyzes Yu’s version from the perspective of functional equivalence. The appreciation focuses on the translation of the drama title, characters’ names and dialogues. In the last chapter, the author draws the conclusion.

An Introduction of Functional equivalence

The Definition of Functional Equivalence

In order to set a standard for the conversion between the source language and the target language and reduce the differences, Eugene A. Nida proposed the famous “dynamic equivalence” translation theory, also known as “functional equivalence”, from the perspective of linguistics and according to the nature of translation. In this theory, he pointed out that “translation is to reproduce the information of the source language from semantics to styles in the most appropriate, natural and equivalent language”. Nida’s definition of translation indicates that translation is not only lexical equivalence, but also semantic, stylistic and stylistic equivalence. The equivalence in “dynamic equivalence” includes four aspects: lexical equivalence, syntactic equivalence, textual equivalence, and stylistic equivalence. In these four aspects, Nida believes that “meaning is the most important, followed by form”. Form is likely to hide the cultural meaning of the source language and hinder cultural communication. Therefore, in literary translation, according to Nida’s theory, the translator should take the four aspects of dynamic equivalence as the translation principle and accurately reproduce the cultural connotation of the source language in the target language.

Three Steps of Translation

Firstly, efforts should be made to create target language that not only conforms to the semantic meaning of the original text but also reflects the cultural characteristics of the original text. However, the two languages represent two completely different cultures. Cultures may have similar factors, but they cannot be identical. Therefore, it is impossible to create perfect translation which fully display the cultural connotation of the original text. The translator can only reproduce the source culture to the maximum extent. Secondly, if meaning and culture cannot be taken into account at the same time, the translator has to abandon formal equivalence and achieve the purpose of reproducing the meaning and culture of the original text by changing the form of the original text in the translation. For example, the English proverb “white as snow” can be translated into Chinese as “白如雪”. However, there is almost no snow in southern China all year round. In their cultural background knowledge, there is no concept of “雪”. How to understand the connotation of snow? In the translation, translators can eliminate cultural differences by changing the form of vocabulary. Therefore, this proverb can be translated into “white as mushroom” and “white as egret’s hair”. In the English idiom “spring up like mushroom”, the original meaning of “mushroom” is “蘑菇”. However, when translated into Chinese, it means “雨后春笋” rather than “雨后蘑菇”, because in Chinese culture, people are more familiar with the idiom and understand the image of “雨后春笋”. Thirdly, if the change of form is still not enough to express the meaning and culture of the original text, the translation technique of “recreate” can be used to solve the cultural differences, so that the source language and the target language can achieve the meaning equivalence. “Recreate” refers to the transformation of the deep structure of the source language into the surface structure of the target language, that is to explain the cultural connotation of the source language articles with the words of the target language.

The Importance of Being Earnest and Its Chinese Versions

As one of Wilde’s most successful play, The Importance of Being Earnest is the rage in the 19th century. The author will introduce this play first, including its author, background and language features. And then, we will talk about its Chinese versions.

An Introduction of Oscar Wilde and His Works

Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin, Ireland. As a “born for art” writer, he was known for his plays, poetry, fairy tales and novels. “He was the main force of the aesthetic movement in the 1880s and the pioneer of the decadent movement in the 1990s” (Yang Wenqian, 2014). As a representative of aestheticism, he always deliberately left out the relationship between art and other things. On the surface, Wilde wrote for the pursuit of art, but the essence of his work goes beyond art. He created four comedies in his life: “Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), A Woman of No Importance (1893), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)” (Wu Jie, 2014). The Importance of Being Earnest is Wilde’s masterpiece, written in the Victorian era. “The Importance of Being Earnest is apt to be a stumbling block both to the detractors and admires of Oscar Wilde as a man of letters” (Richard Foster, 1956). Critics have different opinions on his other works, including poems and novels, but almost unanimously regard this play as a perfect one. It made a great sensation when first put on St. James theatre on February 14, 1895. In the play, the dandy Algernon and Jack made up the characters of “Bunbury” and “Ernest” for their own purposes. Through some misunderstandings, the play continued to develop and the truth was revealed. It turned out that Jack was actually Algernon’s brother. The play ended with “I’ve now realized for the first time in my life the vital Importance of Being Earnest”. The play revolves around the dual identities of Algernon and Jack, describing the behavior of high-class figures. Wilde pointed out the characters’ absurd views of marriage and deep-rooted hierarchies and revealed the hypocritical ethical concepts in Victorian era. As a writer, Wilde often uses humorous language to express complex thoughts and feelings and explain some meaningful philosophy. The highlights of the play are not the plots but the dialogues. In order to reveal characters’ personalities, he employed a variety of rhetorical devices and aphorisms to produce a humorous effect. Pun is widely used in the play, including the drama title and characters’ names.

Chinese Versions of The Importance of Being Earnest

This part talks about Chinese versions of The Importance of Being Earnest. It includes an overview of its Chinese versions and Yu Guangzhong’s version.

An Overview of Its Chinese Versions

The Importance of Being Earnest was premiered in London on February 14, 1895. In 1921, Kong Xiangwo (孔襄我) and Wang Jing (王靖) cooperated to translate this famous play. It was the first Chinese version of The Importance of Being Earnest, but it did not get much attention of Chinese readers. “After the foundation of People’s Republic of China, the first new translation of Wilde’s play Selected Plays of Oscar Wilde (《王尔德戏剧选》) was translated by Qian Zhide (钱之德) and published by Huangcheng Press in 1983” (Wen Tong, 2010). He translated it as “名叫埃纳斯特的重要性”. Qian Zhide just translated it out of his own interest, treating it as a play without orally practicing the translated lines. Compared with previous versions, his version was more personal, as his own reminder of the original texts. In 1986, Yu Guangzhong’s version came out, with the title “不可儿戏”. It was published by China Friendship Press Corporation. It was popular with people and has been put on stage for many times. Another version appeared in the 1980s when Zhang Nanfeng (张南峰) published A Collection of Two British Plays(《英国戏剧二种》), in which Zhang rendered the title of the play as “认真的重要”. Three years later, in Selected Comedies of Oscar Wilde(《王尔德喜剧选》) published by Haixia Literature Press, Zhang changed his title into “认真为上”. From “认真的重要” to “认真为上”, the author thinks that the latter is much more in line with the content. Because of political reasons, studies on Wilde stopped for some time. In 2000, in commemoration of Wilde’s contribution in the literary history, China Literature Press printed a complex six-volume Collection of Wilde’s Works (《王尔德全集》). So far, only the versions of Yu Guangzhong, Zhang Nanfeng and Qian Zhide have been advocated by readers.

Yu Guangzhong and His Chinese Version

Yu Guangzhong was born in Nanjing in 1928. As a writer, Yu Guangzhong is famous for his poetry. “Poetry, prose, translation and critical essay constitute the four dimensions of his writing life” (Li Xin, 2010). He has published 21 poetry collections, 11 prose collections, 5 comment collections and 13 translation collections, Actually, he is also one of the most dedicated translators in the field of translation. “For translators engaged in translation, Yu Guangzhong’s translation thoughts are of great value” (Tong Fangli, 2005). “He thinks that translation is a kind of composition, at least a kind of limited composition” (Wang Chao, 2016). His translation thought derives from his literary creation. He thinks translation is closely related to creation, but it is a limited creation and a flexible art. “Yu Guangzhong has translated four comedies in his whole life, which are The Importance of Being Earnest (《不可儿戏》, 1983), Lady Windermere’s Fan (《温夫人的扇子》, 1992), An Ideal Husband (《理想丈夫》, 1995) and A woman of No Importance (《不要紧的女人》, 2008)” (Chen Feifei, 2011). All of these are the works of Wilde. Yu Guangzhong’s version of The Importance of Being Earnest was early published in 1983. In the postscript, he elaborated his principle of translating. “The dialogue of the novel is for reader to read. If you don’t understand, you can read it again. The dramatic dialogue is for audience to listen to, and if they do not understand, the dialogues passed. There is no second chance. I translated this book not only for Chinese readers, but also for Chinese audiences and actors. Therefore, my translation principle is to make the reader pleased to read, the audience satisfied to watch, and the actor pleasant to perform” (Yu Guangzhong, 2004). With this principle in translator’s mind, this work can be vividly translated. This part mainly introduced the Chinese versions of The Importance of Being Earnest. Among all the versions, Yu Guangzhong’s becomes the most popular one for his profound translation skills. Next, we will analyze his translation strategies.

Applicaton of Translation Theories

Study of Application of Interpretive Theory in Escort Interpretation 韩宛真 Han Wanzhen

Abstract

With economic globalization, exchanges between countries have become more and more frequent and areas of cooperation have continued to expand. The increasing demand for interpretation is the quality of interpretation which is particularly important. Interpretive theory plays an important role in translation, especially in interpreting, and it plays an extremely important role in guiding interpreting practice.Through the reading and analysis of some English-Chinese interpreting materials, this report summarizes some translation strategies and techniques frequently used in interpretation work under the guidance of interpretive theory, and combines translation examples to analyze and summarize. This report is mainly composed of three parts. The first part is mainly a brief introduction to the interpretive theory and interpretation; the second part is mainly a literature review, which summarizes the previous researches on interpretation The researches on interpretation under the guidance of the interpretive theory has made a certain generalization and summary; and the last part is based on the interpretation materials of the latest leaders’ meeting, and the analysis of sentences is conducted under the guidance of interpretive theory.

===Key words===：interpretive theory; interpretation,; translation strategies

摘要

随着经济全球化，各国之间的交往越来越频繁，贸易往来日益频繁，合作领域也不断地拓宽，口译地需求不断增加是口译质量显得尤为重要。诗意理论在翻译中，尤其是口译中扮演者重要的作用，对指导口译实践有着极其重要的作用。本报告通过对一些英汉口译翻译材料地阅读和解析，在释意理论地指导之下总结了一些口译工作中经常使用的一些翻译策略和方法技巧，并且结合了翻译实例进行分析和概括。本报告主要由三部分组成，第一部分主要是对于释意理论和口译进行了一个简单的介绍；第二部分主要是文献综述，对之前释意理论的研究进行了一个总结，同时也对在释意理论指导下的口译研究进行了一定的概括和总结；而最后一部分则是基于最新的领导人会议的口译材料，在释意理论的指导之下进行了句子的分析。

===关键词===：释意理论；口译；翻译策略

1.Introduction

In this part, it mainly talks about some information about the interpretive theory and some knowledge about the Interpretation. Both of them are important for the development of translation.

1.1 Introduction of Interpretive Theory

The interpretive theory is also called the expressive theory, which was created by the interpretive school. This school explores the principles and teaching of French interpretation and translation of non-literary texts. The main representatives of this school, Danica Seleskovitch and Marianne Lederer, founded this school and made important contributions to the generation and development of interpretive theory. The interpretive school believes that translation is paraphrasing, that is, the translator interprets the source text through language symbols and his own cognitive supplementation during the translation process. This school believes that translators cannot copy the form of the source language to translate the text in the process of translation. What they pursue is not language equivalence but meaning equivalence. The theory of this school is directly derived from the practice of interpretation and has a unique inspiration for the study of translation.General translation theories believe that there are three different levels of translation: vocabulary translation, sentence translation and text translation. The interpretive school has its own unique insights in this regard. The interpretive school refers to word-by-word translation and sentence-by-sentence translation as language translation (Linguistic Translation, and text-level translation is called text translation or translation. This school believes that successful translation is carried out at the level of the text and interpretives the text. Because the school believes that the sentence is a grammatical unit, and the text is a semantic unit, the interpretive theory studies meaning not grammar, so the school is particularly faithful to the textual interpretive. The equivalence of the original text and the target text is expressed in the overall communicative meaning, at is, the readers of the target text can have the same reaction as the readers of the original text, thus achieving the equivalence considered by the interpretive school.The core of interpretive theory is to distinguish linguistic meaning from non-verbal sense. What the translator wants to convey is not the meaning of linguistic signs, but the non-verbal meaning expressed by the speaker in his speech. In other words, the essence of meaning is the "meaning" conveyed by communicators through language symbols, not the meaning of language symbols themselves. The meaning is mainly composed of two components. The first is the implied meaning (implicite), which means that the speaker actually wants to express the meaning: the second is the explicite, which the speaker actually says content. Although translation and interpreting have different forms, they are essentially a communicative act, but in translation, the relationship between the translated material and the real world is not as close as in interpreting (for example, an ancient text, the author’s writing Intent-that is, "implied meaning"may become unknowable due to age). Interpretation is different: it is regarded by the interpretive school as the most ideal communication situation, because when interpreting is used, all the interlocutors are present, they share the same time and space environment, and under normal circumstances, they also have a common communication topic. Based on the above understanding, the purpose of translation should be to convey meaning, that is, communicative meaning; what the translator translates should be the content of the information conveyed by the text, which is speech (that is, the use of language), not the language itself. Interpretation is not based on the memory of the original speaker's language, but based on the translator's grasp of the communicative meaning conveyed by the original speaker and subsequent reorganization of the communicative meaning (that is, the speaker's meaning) in the target language. At this point, we can see that the interpretive theory first separates grammar from semantics and points out that translation is interpretive; then it separates linguistic meaning from non-verbal meaning, and points out that the translator translates meaning. And the meaning is the communicative meaning. The interpretive school's theory pays much attention to the study of translation process. In a sense, it can even be considered that the focus of the school's attention is the translation process. The interpretive theory believes that in interpreting, the interpreter actually goes through three stages before turning the speaker's words into words that the audience in another language can understand: The first stage is the understanding of meaning, through understanding and analyzing language signs to clarify the linguistic phenomenon and thought content to be expressed, this stage is called interpretation of discourse. The part of discourse elaboration is extremely important, because after the discourse has been uttered by the speaker, its oral expression will immediately disappear, but after this part of discourse is elaborated, it will become the translator’s thought. In his mind, what the speaker has already said returns to the original state, that is, the state of pure thought that has not been expressed in language. This "thought that has not been expressed in words"(Seleskovic, 1979: 113) can be re-expressed at a normal speed through the interpreter’s language, so the discourse elaboration connects the speaker and the translator, just like a bridge for the people. The second stage is cognitive supplementation, away from the shell of the source language. At this stage, we need to forget the deconstruction of language signs, and only need to remember the thought content it expresses, that is, the cognitive and emotional meanings produced by language signs. This stage is called "de-verbalization". Adding the process of breaking away from the language shell between understanding and expression is the result of the study of interpretive language and a contribution to the science. The third stage is the reformulation stage of the original information content. That is to use another language symbol to create new sentences, and these sentences need to express the full content of the original utterance and easy to understand the two requirements. In general, interpretive theory does not regard translation as a one-way decoding process of transforming a source language into a target language. It is a dynamic process of understanding ideas and then re-expressing them. The interpretive theory is also called the expressive theory, which was created by the interpretive school. This school explores the principles and teaching of French interpretation and translation of non-literary texts. The main representatives of this school, Danica Seleskovitch and Marianne Lederer, founded this school and made important contributions to the generation and development of interpretive theory. The interpretive school believes that translation is paraphrasing, that is, the translator interprets the source text through language symbols and his own cognitive supplementation during the translation process. This school believes that translators cannot copy the form of the source language to translate the text in the process of translation. What they pursue is not language equivalence but meaning equivalence. The theory of this school is directly derived from the practice of interpretation and has a unique inspiration for the study of translation. General translation theories believe that there have three different levels of translation: vocabulary translation, sentence translation and tect translation. The interpretive school has its own unique insight in this regard.The interpretive school refers to word-by-word translation and sentence-by-sentence translation as language translation (Linguistic Translation, and text-level translation is called text translation or translation. This school believes that successful translation is carried out at the level of the text and interpretives the text. Because the school believes that the sentence is a grammatical unit, and the text is a semantic unit, the interpretive theory studies meaning not grammar, so the school is particularly faithful to the textual interpretive. The equivalence of the original text and the target text is expressed in the overall communicative meaning, at is, the readers of the target text can have the same reaction as the readers of the original text, thus achieving the equivalence considered by the interpretive school.The core of interpretive theory is to distinguish linguistic meaning from non-verbal sense. What the translator wants to convey is not the meaning of linguistic signs, but the non-verbal meaning expressed by the speaker in his speech. In other words, the essence of meaning is the "meaning" conveyed by communicators through language symbols, not the meaning of language symbols themselves. The meaning is mainly composed of two components. The first is the implied meaning (implicite), which means that the speaker actually wants to express the meaning: the second is the explicite, which the speaker actually says content. Although translation and interpreting have different forms, they are essentially a communicative act, but in translation, the relationship between the translated material and the real world is not as close as in interpreting (for example, an ancient text, the author’s writing Intent-that is, "implied meaning"may become unknowable due to age). Interpretation is different: it is regarded by the interpretive school as the most ideal communication situation, because when interpreting is used, all the interlocutors are present, they share the same time and space environment, and under normal circumstances, they also have a common communication topic. Based on the above understanding, the purpose of translation should be to convey meaning, that is, communicative meaning; what the translator translates should be the content of the information conveyed by the text, which is speech (that is, the use of language), not the language itself. Interpretation is not based on the memory of the original speaker's language, but based on the translator's grasp of the communicative meaning conveyed by the original speaker and subsequent reorganization of the communicative meaning (that is, the speaker's meaning) in the target language. At this point, we can see that the interpretive theory first separates grammar from semantics and points out that translation is interpretive; then it separates linguistic meaning from non-verbal meaning, and points out that the translator translates meaning. And the meaning is the communicative meaning. The interpretive school's theory pays much attention to the study of translation process. In a sense, it can even be considered that the focus of the school's attention is the translation process. The interpretive theory believes that in interpreting, the interpreter actually goes through three stages before turning the speaker's words into words that the audience in another language can understand: The first stage is the understanding of meaning, through understanding and analyzing language signs to clarify the linguistic phenomenon and thought content to be expressed, this stage is called interpretation of discourse. The part of discourse elaboration is extremely important, because after the discourse has been uttered by the speaker, its oral expression will immediately disappear, but after this part of discourse is elaborated, it will become the translator’s thought. In his mind, what the speaker has already said returns to the original state, that is, the state of pure thought that has not been expressed in language. This "thought that has not been expressed in words"(Seleskovic, 1979: 113) can be re-expressed at a normal speed through the interpreter’s language, so the discourse elaboration connects the speaker and the translator, just like a bridge for the people. The second stage is cognitive supplementation, away from the shell of the source language. At this stage, we need to forget the deconstruction of language signs, and only need to remember the thought content it expresses, that is, the cognitive and emotional meanings produced by language signs. This stage is called "de-verbalization". Adding the process of breaking away from the language shell between understanding and expression is the result of the study of interpretive language and a contribution to the science. The third stage is the reformulation stage of the original information content. That is to use another language symbol to create new sentences, and these sentences need to express the full content of the original utterance and easy to understand the two requirements. In general, interpretive theory does not regard translation as a one-way decoding process of transforming a source language into a target language. It is a dynamic process of understanding ideas and then re-expressing them.

1.2 Introduction of Interpretation

Interpretation, also known as interpreting, is a kind of translation activity. As the name implies, it is a way for the translator to convert the input language into the output language in a spoken way. Oral translation is the simultaneous interpretation while the speaker is still speaking, which means the staff will simultaneously translate. Translation work is the bridge and link of our country's foreign exchanges and international exchanges. The development of translation business is also an inevitable requirement of our country's foreign reforms. It can improve the quality of translators and strengthen the construction of translators. Translation talents play a very important role in our country's economic development and social progress, especially in attracting foreign advanced technical knowledge and strengthening international exchanges and cooperation. The improvement of the political and professional quality of translators plays a key role in strengthening international cooperation in all aspects of our country's politics, economy, science and technology. There are very strict requirements regarding the selection of simultaneous interpreters. During simultaneous interpretation, the interpreter should continuously interpret the content to the audience without disturbing the speaker. Simultaneous interpretation, as a translation method, is characterized by high efficiency. The average translation interval between the original text and the target text is three to four seconds, with a maximum of ten seconds, so the speaker can speak coherently without affecting or interrupting the speech. The reader’s thinking is conducive to the audience’s understanding of the full text of the speech. Simultaneous interpretation is an extremely difficult inter-language conversion activity that is strictly limited by time. It requires the hospital to quickly complete the prediction of the source language in a very short time with the help of the existing subject knowledge while listening to the source language speech. Comprehension, memorization and conversion, and at the same time monitor, organize, modify and express the target language, and speak the target language translation. At international conferences, simultaneous interpreters need to use "lightning thinking" and superb language skills to successfully overcome the interweaving and interference of multiple tasks, which can easily cause energy shortages or difficulty in distributing attention to the brain. According to the regulations of AIIC (International Conference Interpreters Association), simultaneous interpreters only need to translate 80% of the speaker's speech content as a pass rate (90%-100% "simultaneous interpretation" is almost impossible). Many people usually speak very fast. When giving speeches, they often only take into account their own speech content, even with accents and even dialects from various places. The simultaneous interpreters have to mobilize all their knowledge reserves and experience to go all out. In addition to solid language skills and mature conference experience, entering the simultaneous interpretation industry also requires a strong desire for knowledge. Due to professional needs, translators often have to deal with knowledge in many fields while doing translation, so some people say "simultaneous interpretation is a half-expert in any field.". Mastering the knowledge of broadcasting is the prerequisite for good simultaneous interpretation.

2. Literary Review

No matter the interpretive theory and the interpretation,many people around the world have done some researches about them.And these researches about them can do great help for us to do further researches about them.

2.1 The Research on Interpretive Theory

Regarding the study of interpretive theory, there have been many scholars both at home and abroad who have conducted special research on it, and they have made important contributions to the continuous development of interpretive theory. The first thing I mentioned is the study of interpretation by domestic scholars. In the early days, Chinese scholars began to study interpretive theory. Xu Jun, a well-known translation expert in our country, conducted research on interpretive theory in 1998. He mentioned in his article that he reviewed and studied the "interpretive" theory created by Professor Celeskovich; In 1997, the well-known translation expert Yuan Xiaoyi published an article on the concept of faithfulness called the interpretive theory, in which she discussed a problem of faithfulness that had been debated for thousands of years, and combining interpretive theory to explore this issue. With the development of the times, Chinese scholars’ enthusiasm for the study of interpretive theory has not diminished. For example, some scholars published an interpretive strategy study called Xi Jinping’s opening speech from the perspective of interpretive theory this year. The author here connects the interpretation theory with the times and integrates with practical activities. Based on the oral translation of President Xi Jinping’s speech, and guided by the theory of interpretation, the five translation strategies that translators commonly use literal translation, free translation, information simplification, antagonism and information supplementation are analyzed and summarized. At the same time, some scholars are still interested in the rise and development of interpretive theory and continue to study the development process of interpretive theory. In 2020, Su Yuanyuan introduced the concept of interpretive and the rise and development of interpretive theory in her published articles, and discussed the significance and challenges of interpretive theory for the implementation of curriculum policy in our country. Looking at the articles published by domestic scholars on the research of interpretive theory, most of them are studying the role and embodiment of interpretive theory in practice, especially the application in interpretation practice, which has played an important role in the development of my country's translation industry. Regarding foreign scholars' research on interpretive theory, many scholars have also emerged. Moreover, foreign scholars' research on interpretive theory will be earlier than domestic research. For example, in 1953, foreign scholar Surindar Suri explained the role of interpretive theory in the communication process in his published article, and carried out research and analysis based on practical examples. In 1969, Jackendoff Ray S. published an article called An Interpretive Theory of Negation, which explained the shortcomings of the interpretive theory. In 1969, Dougherty Ray C. conducted an investigation and research on the lexical level of interpretive theory, combined with specific text examples for analysis. Recently, many scholars have conducted research and analysis on interpretive theory. For example, in 2020, Harari and Michael investigated the relationship between interpretive theory and our thinking. It is precisely because of the investigation and research of these scholars at home and abroad that it provides us with a lot of useful information for understanding and studying interpretive theory. Of course, the interpretive theory itself has also been developed in the process of their research and investigation. The development of theory will of course also promote the development of practice, continue to promote the development of interpretation and translation practice, and make a significant contribution to my country's translation industry.

2.2 The Research on Interpretation under the Guide of Interpretive Theory

Investigation and research on the application of interpretive theory in practice, the main direction is interpreting. In the aspect of interpretation, interpretive theory has made important contributions to its development. That is to say, the practical significance of interpretive theory is very large, which can guide people's life practice and assist translators in their work. With the globalization of the world economy, the exchanges between countries continue to deepen and exchanges become more frequent. Therefore, the industry of translation has become more important, and interpretation plays an important role in the process of communication between countries. Therefore, both domestic and foreign translators have conducted research and investigation on it. First of all, I have made a summary of some research investigations by domestic scholars. The research of Chinese scholars on interpretive theory in accompanying translation mainly combines various interpretation practices to analyze and research. In 2016, Zhang Yu accompanied the Canadian delegation to the practice report and analyzed the interpretive theory in this interpretation practice. Based on the author’s practice of accompanying interpretation and the understanding of interpretation theory, the scholar discussed and analyzed the problems encountered by the interpreter during the task. Through this translation practice, the translator also summed up the guiding role of the interpretive theory that interpretation should pay attention to the transmission of meaning for interpreters. In 2018, Yang Lijun discussed the application of interpretive theory in escort interpreting from the interpretation practice of the 2017 Asia Media Summit. During the summit, the scholar served as a liaison and accompanying interpreter and successfully completed the task of accompanying interpreter. This year is 2020, Liu Guifang takes China's "One Belt One Road" as the background, the rapid development of the world economy, the increasingly close relations between China and Russia, and the increasingly frequent trade exchanges. Therefore, the increasing demand for escort interpreting makes the quality of interpreting particularly important. Scholars served as an escort translator at the 12th "Black Technology" Exhibition in Dalian. Their personal experience in the process of practice, guided by interpretive theory, summarized some translation strategies and methods in interpreting work. On the practical research on the theory of interpretation abroad. In 1992, JD Ward and FJ Rink conducted research and investigation on interpretive theory in the formulation of public policy. In 2011, SE Porter and JC Robinson introduced interpretive theory in their monograph. Foreign researchers started their research on interpretive theory earlier, with a wide range of research and in-depth research. The research on interpretive theory by domestic and foreign scholars has greatly promoted the development of translation, especially the development of interpretation.

3.Translation Strategies based on Interpretive Theory

Interpretive theory mainly includes three stages in the application process, namely, meaning understanding, cognitive supplementation, and separation from the source language. These three stages are called the triangle model of interpretation by the famous translator Celeskovich. We can understand from the picture below. There are three line segments in the figure. The realization from the top of the triangle to language A means that the translator captures the meaning and digests and understands it. The line segment from the top to language B represents the translator to express it in another language. These two lines reflect the process of translation: one is from linguistic signs to thinking, and the other is linguistic signs from thinking to target language. Then, the dashed line from language A to language B indicates that direct conversion of language symbols from the original language to the target language is impossible, which may violate the meaning of the original language. Based on interpretive theory, a variety of translation skills have appeared in translation. Here we mainly discuss some translation skills of interpreting. The concept of interpreting is the object, and various examples are combined for analysis.

3.1 Free Translation

The interpretive school believes that the pursuit of translation is not the equivalence of language forms, but the equivalence of meaning between the original text and the translated text, which enables it to achieve the purpose of communication in this way. Free translation refers to getting rid of the shackles of the source language form in the translation process and reorganizing the structure of the language to achieve the purpose of conveying meaning. Free translation does not mean changing the connotation of the source text, but after understanding the basic meaning of the source text in the translation process, it is expressed in the language used to the target language to make the language clearer and easier to understand. In leaders’ speeches, some culturally loaded words are often involved, such as idioms, colloquialisms, poems, etc., which are difficult for the target language audience to understand. Therefore, in this case, we adopt the translation strategy of free translation.

例1：明年是中国和东盟建立对话关系30周年，双方友好合作即将步入“而立之年”，双方各自的发展也处于承前启后的关键时期。
Translation: Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations. Our friendship and cooperation, which is fully established, will move toward greater maturity as we both enter an important period of development.

"而立之年" is a Chinese idiom, which means that a person can stand on his own at the age of thirty. The source of this idiom is the Spring and Autumn Period. After Confucius was excluded from the political arena, when talking to his disciples about his own experience, he said that he had been determined since he was 30, and he has not been able to launch a benevolent government until he is almost 70. Here, the translator directly expresses the thirty in the first year, which is beneficial for the listener of the target language to understand.

例2：论坛是中非共同的宝贵财富，我们要与时俱进，擦亮这块“金子招牌”。
Translation: FOCAC is a valuable asset for China and Africa.

"金字招牌" is a Chinese idiom, which means a signboard in which stores used gold foil to show that they had strong funds. And now it is a name or title that can be shown off as a metaphor for being superior. It is also a good analogy of reputation. Here it mainly refers to a precious name, and the translation of asset is very appropriate and easy to understand.

3.2 Addition of Message

Information supplementation refers to the method of adding words to make the meaning clearer and more in line with the expression habits of the target language listener. Information supplements can be divided into adding words needed for grammatical structure, supplementing and omitted components, and components contained in the original text. Due to the differences in different cultures, some expressions will also be different in different languages, so the translator adopts appropriate supplementary methods to achieve the goal of meaning equivalence.

例1：在涉及彼此的核心利益和重大关切问题上相互坚定支持，始终高举多边主义和公平正义的旗帜，提高发展中国家的国际地位和影响力，维护了发展中国家的整体利益。
Translation: We have firmly supported each other on issues concerning core interests and major concerns. We have stood together in upholding the banner of multilateralism, fairness and justice. Together, we have elevated the international standing and influence of developing countries and safeguarded the overall interests of the developing world.

In this translation, we can clearly see the difference in sentence expression between Chinese and English. Chinese pays more attention to the language of meaning, so it will omit some forms of expression; while English emphasizes the form of language expression, so there has relatively more use of function words in English expression. Through the above translation sentences, we will find that we have added some function words to the sentence structure in the English sentence, and also turned out the personal pronouns omitted from the source text. Through this addition, the logical relationship is clearer and the meaning is easier to understand.

例2：自今年4月举行东盟与中日韩（10+3）抗击新冠肺炎疫情领导人特别会议以来，各方积极落实会议各项成果，有利促进地区疫情防控和经济复苏，彰显了10+3作为东亚合作主渠道的重要作用。
Translation; In April, we had a Special ASEAN Plus Three(APT) Summit on COVIS-19. Since then, all parties have been actively implementing its outcome, which has bolstered both our response against the virus and economic recovery in the region. Such progress has highlighted APT’s important role as the main channel of East Asian cooperation.

From the translation of the above example, we can find that when the source text is translated into the target language, the number of words in the target language is almost half that of the source text. There are a lot of words in the target language that have not appeared in the source text, such as relative pronouns and personal pronouns. But through such additions, the logic of the text is more fluent, and the meaning of the text is clearer.

3.3 Positive and Negative Translation

As we mentioned before, different countries have different cultural characteristics, and of course there are huge differences in language expression. Here we take the English-Chinese translation as an example to illustrate this translation feature. English and Chinese are both positive and negative. However, because Chinese speakers and English speakers have different ways of thinking and expression habits, the two languages have their own characteristics of expression. In the practice of translation, it involves the conversion of pros and cons, which means that during translation, the sentence that is being said in the original text must be processed into a negative, and vice versa. Therefore, on the basis of understanding the content of the original text and under the guidance of interpretive theory, adopting such a translation strategy can make the semantics clearer to a certain extent, which is more in line with the language expression habits of the target language readers. The following are some typical examples:

例1 如果不加强各方的合作来合力战胜疫情，我们就不能够加强公共卫生，不能增强地区对公共卫生突发事件的处理能力。
Tranlation: We could enhance public health cooperation and strengthen our region’s preparedness for public emergencies through working together on COVID-19.

The sentences in the source text are all expressed by the negative "cannot" in Chinese, and after being translated into English, the translator converts the negation into affirmation, which makes multiple repeated negative words in the source text omitted, so it appears clearer and is easy to understand.

例2 而不是搞知识封锁，制造甚至扩大科技鸿沟。
Translation: The least desirable is for us to stifle the flow of knowledge, or to create or even widen the technology divide among us.

The source text is a negative sentence containing the negative “cannot" when translated into English. The translator is telling the truth, the translation is "at least", the form is affirmative, the meaning is negative. This kind of English expression is more authentic, and it also makes the expression diversified, and the English listeners can also be understood.

Conclusion

In order to systematically summarize the achievements in the field of international interpreting research, and to provide useful references and references for future interpreting research, so I chose interpretive theory as the research topic of this thesis, trying to make an attempt to the core composition of its theoretical system. Part of the paper has been systematically investigated and researched, and the whole article has been modified to analyze the interpretive theory and its practice in interpretation. It not only introduces the meaning of interpretation theory, but also analyzes its application in interpretation practice. Based on the creation and development of interpretive theory by the predecessors, the development of interpretive theory provided good translation strategies for later translation, especially interpretation, and made important contributions to the development of translation. The core of interpretive theory emphasizes the separation of the shell of the source language and the communicative function of the language. From this we can see that in the process of interpreting, the translator cannot be attached to the form of the language, but should pay more attention to the language it carries. Only in this way can the translator deliver the information to the listener in the target language as much as possible in the practice of interpretation. Translators should fully understand the meaning of the text in the language and outside the language, quickly get rid of the shackles of language signs, and try to convey the source language accurately and faithfully. In the process of interpreting, especially when the leader speaks, the language of his speech is plain, multi-purpose and interlocked, good at repetition and use of discourse with Chinese characteristics. Translators should use translation strategies flexibly. The interpretive school believes that interpreting is a kind of communicative activity whose purpose is to convey meaning, and in order to fully convey the meaning, the translator must analyze, understand and interpret the discourse of the source text during the translation process. In the process of interpretive, the translator needs to supplement the cognition. The supplement of cognition is a process of combining the translator's language knowledge, subject-related knowledge, encyclopedia knowledge and context knowledge. The third stage of interpretive theory is the hypothesis of "beyond the shell of the source language". This hypothesis is the core concept of interpretive theory and has a significant impact on the formation and development of interpretive theory. In fact, the interpretive theory was originally proposed based on the assumption that meaning can be separated from the outer shell of language. But in fact, there were certain problems when the theory was put forward by the initiators. The explanation of the relationship between language shell and meaning of this hypothesis was too simple, and in this hypothesis, both meaning and language form were absolutized. Generally speaking, the meaning may not be 100% out of the language shell in the process of interpreting, and the phenomenon of "out of" is unlikely to occur from beginning to end; the natural language may still be a natural language in the process of processing the source language text by the interpreter. One of the carriers of meaning. The triangular model of interpretation theory explains the psychological process of interpretation to a certain extent, shows bold and innovative spirit, and lays the foundation for the cognitive psychological transformation of interpretation research, which has contributed to the formation of the international interpretation research pattern and future development It has a huge and far-reaching impact, and it also brings profound enlightenment to human machine translation research. However, the interpretive school has always rejected the linguistic approach of interpretation in its research work, which is the marginalization of the object of interpretation; in addition, it only focuses on successful interpretation practice, and does not make a systematic and serious analysis of the reasons for the failure of interpretation. Weakened the practical value of the theory and affected its further dissemination and development. In this era of international interpreting research talents, thehe brilliance of the interpretive theory has become the past. "As the leader of the past, today we don’t have to expect the interpretation theory of the interpretive school to continue its former glory." But the interpretive theory has not been outdated. Its high attention to meaning is important to today’s interpretation practice Interpretation teaching still has an important guiding role; the psychological process (information processing) model of interpreting it puts forward has been inherited through the efforts of a new generation of scientific research school! It is enriched and developed. With the progress of cognitive science, its "departure from the source language" The connotation of the “language shell” hypothesis may also become more and more clear and clear. The interpretation scope of the interpretation theory of the interpretive school may continue to expand, and the research methods of the interpretive school will continue to build the interpretation theory for a long time in the future. Make your own unique contribution."

Bibliography

Bevir, Mark, Rod AW Rhodes. (2002) Theory and methods in political science 1[J]. "Interpretive theory.": 1.

Dougherty, Ray C. (1969) "An interpretive theory of pronominal reference." Foundations of Language: 488-519.

Jackendoff, Ray S. "An interpretive theory of negation." Foundations of language (1969): 218-241.

Gong Longsheng 龚龙生，2008，释意理论对我国口译研究的影响[J].宁夏大学学报(人文社会科学版) (04):155-161+166。

Lederer Marianne 勒代雷. (2001). 释意学派口笔译理论. 刘和平译[M]. 北京：中国对外翻译出版公司:45-50。

Kong Shaohui 孔韶辉. (2009). 综述释意学派翻译理论研究的主要内容[J].青年文学家(02):127。

Liu Yue, Lan Jie 刘玥、兰杰. (2020) 释意理论视域下习近平进博会开幕式讲话的口译策略研究[J].海外英语 (15):179-180+211。

Zhang Si 张思. (2019) 释意理论在口译中的应用[J].北方文学(30):275-277。

Theory and Practise

An Analysis of the Books of Translation，History and Culture: A Sourcebook and A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Translation Thoughts 成于思 Cheng Yusi Student No. 202020080598

Abstract

André Lefevere’s Translation History and Culture: A Sourcebook and Liu Miqing’s A Comparative study of Chinese and Western Translation Principles are two books about translation principles and translation theories from the perspective of culture. this paper consists of three parts. In part one, after a brief introduction of Translation History and Culture: A Sourcebook, the paper is about to give an analysis of the excerpt about John Dryden’s three types of translation and the comparison of “translator and author to slave and master” and illustrate them with several reasons. The second part will give an introduction of A Comparative study of Chinese and Western Translation Principles and display scholar’s evaluation of the book. In the third part, the author will make a comparison of these two books to deepen reader’s understanding of them.

Key words

André Lefevere, Translation History and Culture: A Sourcebook, Liu Miqing, A Comparative study of Chinese and Western Translation Principles

摘要

安德烈·勒菲弗尔的《翻译，历史和文化论集》和刘宓庆的《中西翻译思想对比研究》均是关于翻译思想和翻译理论研究的作品。两本书均从文化视角对翻译思想进行研究。本文第一部分本文将对《翻译，历史和文化论集》进行简要介绍，并节选其中摘录的英国诗人约翰·德莱登的片段进行重点论述，分析其翻译方法和”作者-译者主仆论”，并进行原因说明，以体现《翻译，历史和文化论集》一书的主旨。第二部分将对《中西翻译思想对比研究》进行简述并收集相关学者对此书的看法和评价。在第三部分中，笔者将对上述两本书进行内容和形式上的对比，帮助读者更好地理解这两本书。

关键词

安德烈·勒菲弗尔，《翻译，历史与文化论集》，刘宓庆，《中西翻译思想对比研究》

II.Analysis of Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook

Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook, edited by American translation theorist and the foremost representative of Translation Studies---André Lefevere in 1992, is a collection of seminal statements of thinking about literary translation in Western Europe, spanning twenty centuries from 106 BC to 1931 AD. “Lefevere’s later work on translation and culture in many ways represents a bridging point to the ‘cultural turn’.”(Munday 2016,199). As such, Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook serves as a good proof of “cultural turn” of translation proposed by Translation Studies. In general editor’s preface of this book, Lefevere and Bassnett displayed their intention to edit this book---to reflect the current development of Translation Studies. They redefined translation as “a rewriting of an original text”. Here, they explained that “rewritings reflect a certain ideology and a poetics and manipulate literature to function in a given society in a given way. Rewriting is manipulation, undertaken in the service of power, and in its positive aspect can help in the evolution of a literature and a society.” (lefevere 2003, xi). With reference to these concepts, Lefevere aimed to declare the central function of translation as a shaping force.

In preface of the book, Lefevere looked back to the tradition of translation in western Europe, and concluded that the previous discussion of translation was exclusive to language, failing to deal with the complexity of the translation. Therefore, he proposed that the study of translation needs deep exploration for cultural studies. Such idea was envisaged at the backdrop of the stagnancy of linguistics in 1970s and the emergence of Translation Studies in 1976, thus promoting the trend of “cultural turn”. “Cultural turn” was officially termed by Mary Snell-Hornby meaning the move from translation as text to translation as culture and politics in her paper collected in the book Translation, history and culture in 1990, whose publication was valued as the declaration of “cultural turn” of translation studies. If the book Translation, History and Culture is regarded as the anticipation and elaboration of Lefevere and Bassnett’s thoughts of “cultural turn”, Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook, with abundant case studies, is proved to be a good illustration of their thoughts. The collected excerpts are arranged in eight themes, including The Role of Ideology, The Power of Patronage, Poetics, Universe of Discourse, Translation, the Development of Language and Education, The Technique of Translating, Central Texts and Central Cultures and The Longer Statements which is an extension of the former seven themes. Such an exclusive arrangement is intended to highlight the important thinking on translation, to effectively illustrate the constraints imposed on translation, to discuss the position of culture, the role translation played in education, and to give out technique of translating concerning translation practice, thus dwarfing the traditional chronological arrangement.

I enjoy reading this book because it makes those aloof and remarkable scholars closer to us. After reading their original words, they seem to appear in fresh and narrate their feelings of being translators. I read translator’s inferiority in Dryden’s words and admire Cicero’s courage to assert free translation to defend the privilege of translators. He said that “I decided to take speeches written in Greek by great orators and to translate them freely… I could not only make use of the best expressions in common usage with us, but I could also coin new expressions, analogous to those used in Greek”. (Lefevere 2003, 47) Through reading the scholar’s letters or their original statements, we can review their thoughts on the basis of our own understanding, rather than be crammed with so-called essential yet monotonous principles summarized by others.

In this part, I will make an analysis of John Dryden’s three types of translation and his comparison of “author and translator” to “master slave” through the excerpts collected in Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook. The translator, as the subject in translation, ought to give the fullest play to his subjective initiatives to produce a good translated work. However, translators are limited by the ideology, the trend of translation theory, cultural background and their position in their time. Therefore, the discussion of Dryden’s views on translator can reflect part of the intention of the book Translation, History and Culture: A Sourcebook. Lefevere extracted two statements by Dryden and relatively placed them in Chapter Two---The Power of Patronage, and Chapter Eight---Longer Statements. In chapter eight, Lefevere extracted an excerpt from the preface to Dryden’s translation of Ovid’s Epistles published in 1680. In the preface, Dryden proposed three methods of translation. First, metaphrase, or word-by-word translation. Second, paraphrase, or translation with latitude, where the author is kept in view by the translator, so as never to be lost, but his words are not so strictly followed as his sense; and that too is admitted to be amplified, but not altered. Third, imitation, the translator assumes the liberty, not only to vary from the words and sense, but to forsake them both as he sees occasion; and taking only general hints from the original, to run division on the groundwork, as he pleases. (Lefevere 2003, 102). Dryden argues that when it comes to metaphrase, the translator is encumbered with many difficulties. Not only should he consider the thought of his author, his word, and find out counterpart to each in another language, but he could be confined by the rhyme as well. In Dryden’s vivid simile, translating poem in such a way is like to “dancing on ropes with fettered legs”.(Lefevere 2003, 103). The dancer needs to be cautious of falling down, so it is hard to expect gracefulness of motion of him. “and when we have said the best of it, ‘tis but a foolish task; for no sober man would put himself into a danger for the applause of escaping without breaking his neck”. Therefore, if a poem is translated word by word, its sense will be harmed, not to mention its elegance. He defined imitation “to be an endeavor of a later poet to write like one who has written before him, on the same subject; that is, not to translate his words, or to be confined to his sense, but only to set him as a pattern, and to write, as he supposes that author would have done, had he lived in our age, and in our country”.(Lefevere 2003, 103). As such, the translator needn’t to care about the author’s elaborate use of words, or subtle spirit, but to write a poem in the author’s style as if he were alive. The translator can add or diminish as he likes to express his own thoughts, however, Dryden argued that through imitation, the work is no longer to be called the author’s work, but a new produced one, which does express the translator’s talent but spoils the reputation of the dead. Therefore, literal translation and imitation, two extremes, should be avoided. Dryden proposed a mean betwixt them --- to paraphrase, or to translate with latitude. “tis time to look into ourselves, to conform our genius to his, to give his thought either the same turn, if our tongue will bear it, or if not, to vary but the dress, not to alter or destroy the substance”.(Lefevere 2003, 104). It is best to convey the thought of the poet. And the words that the translator adapt need to make confession to the thought if they are unable to bear it, except for the original words that appear literally graceful, which is believed to be kept to maintain the delicacy of the poem. Nevertheless, due to the properties of different languages, Dryden supposed that “he may stretch his chain to such a latitude”.(Lefevere 2003, 105). In conclusion, a translator can be allowed a liberty for the expression, but the sense of an author is to be respected against violation.

However, in chapter Two, in “Dedication” to his translation of the Aeneid, Dryden argued that “We are bound to our author’s sense, though with the latitudes already mentioned”.(Lefevere 2003, 24). He compared a translator to a slave and drudge to express his views on the role of translators. “But slaves we are, and labor in another man’s plantation; we dress the vineyard, but the wine is the owner’s; if the soil be sometimes barren, then we are not thanked, for the proud reader will only say, the poor drudge had done his duty.” (Lefevere 2003, 24). Dryden’s words reflect translator’s inferiority and being belittled at the time of Classicism, which even exerts influence on the later Contemporary Linguistics and Translation Studies.

III. Analysis of A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Translation Principles

In this part, I attempt to summarize the content and the value of the book A Comparative study of Chinese and Western Translation Principles, which was published in 2005. The book consists of a FAQ passage substituting the preface and fourteen chapters. It must highlight that Liu Miqing translates “Sixiang” (thought in chinese) into “principle” in this book. Here follows the titles of each chapters: Chapter One: To Remove the Misunderstandings about Yan Fu’s Principles---A Brief Discussion of Studies of Translation Thoughts; Chapter two: On the Tradition of Chinese Translation; Chapter Three: The Issue of Characteristics of Chinese Translation Theory; Chapter Four: Translatology Calling for New Views on Tradition: Translatology and Mohist; Chapter Five: Translatology Calling for New Views on Tradition: Reflection, Transcendence and Reconstruction; Chapter Six: Translatology Calling for New Views on Translation: " To Enliven Form”; Chapter Seven: Three Origins of the Contemporary Western Translation Theories; Chapter Eight: A Brief Summary of the Contemporary Western Translation Principles and Schools; Chapter Night: On the Limitations of the Contemporary Western Translation Theories. Chapter Ten: Wittgenstein’s View on Meaning and Translation Studies; Chapter Eleven: Translation, A Kind of “Language Game”; Chapter Twelve, An analysis of Benjamin's View on Translation; Chapter Thirteen: On the Originality of Translation. Chapter Fourteen, Translation is the Transcendence of the Original Text. The fourteen chapters can be divided into three parts: to appeal for reconstruction of the tradition of Chinese translation studies; to alert to the blind worship to Western translation studies; to deepen the translation view of functionalist under Wittgenstein's philosophy. The first part(chapter one to chapter six) discusses the tradition of Chinese translation studies. Liu Miqing illustrates the development of Chinese translation studies. with reference to Liu, Chinese translation has gone through three leaps. The first stage was to leap from religious translation to scientific translation. The second stage was marked by the translation activities and theories of Yan Fu and Ma Jianzhong( Liu Miqing 2005. 30). The third stage is from 1970s to now, which means the breakthrough has yet to succeed. Then, Liu proposes that Chinese translation theory develops with culture as the principle strategy. (Liu Miqing 2005. 33). He later concludes that there are four features of the tradition of Chinese translation：The cultural strategy; regulation to perfection, translation to perfection; focus on the meaning as well as the aesthetics; increase translators’ awareness of subjectivity and stress their insight. It is owing to the integration of the above features that the Chinese translation principles are formed. The gist of Chinese contemporary translation principles is concluded into four points: to inspire the traditional fighting spirit of Chinese translation, and take rejuvenation of Chinese nation and multicultural development as the cultural strategy of the translation in new era; to emphasize the meaning determination of discourses(or texts) in interlingual communication; to emphasize the optimization of TL representation of the discourses(or texts) in interlingual communication until it reaches the regulation perfection. Next, Liu makes a division and a comparison of the phases of the development of Chinese and Western translation, and pointed out the characteristics of the development of Chinese translation and the reasons that Chinese translation theory has its own characteristics and system. Based on Guoxue or Chinese classics, the Mohism, Liu emphasizes that it is necessary to explore and reassess Chinese national culture. Finally, the author summarizes a theoretical framework of meaning of Chinese translation studies, and suggests that we need to improve the old concept of "emphasis on meaning" and establish a new concept of "emphasis on the meaning in communication" (Liu Miqing 2005.179).The second part is comprised of chapter seven, eight and nine, which respectively illustrates the three origins of contemporary Western translation theories, Western contemporary translation principles and schools, and the limitations of contemporary Western translation theories. Liu argues that the contemporary Western principles are based on utilitarianism, notably the British and American culture.(liu Miqing 2005. 288). However, he also recognized that the 1960s to 1970s witnessed great progress in Western translation theory. Liu divides western contemporary translation theory into several schools: Linguistic School, Functional School, Paraphrase School, Cultural Translation School, Postmodernism and Translation Theory, Psycho-cognitive Psychology School, New Literal Translation Theory. Liu points out that the Western translation focuses on the ends, the form and the effect of communication, the function of the translator, and emphasizes the translated text and the suppression of the alien culture reflected in the original work (Liu Miqing 2005. 288). Finally, Liu points out that western translation theory is “technology-oriented" and he gives his reasons: first, the lack of compass of theories that can guide and support the development of the discipline; second, the ignoring of overall studies; third, the marginal position of meaning; fourth, the current views and remarks on theory are superficial, assertive and rational; fifth, the lack of clarity and depth of the discourse of theory; sixth, the lack of academical criticism and self-criticism. The third part of this book expounds the significance of Wittgenstein's philosophy to translation studies. Based on Wittgenstein's view of “translation and language game”,Liu puts forward that "translation as an interlingual language game" is the basic idea of translation functionalism.

A Cultural Critique of Foreignization and Domestication 吴子佳 Wu Zijia

Abstract

Domestication and foreignization ，as two important translation methods, play an important role in many areas, the language is the carrier of culture, the differences between different cultures is the important obstacle of cross-cultural communication.And each of the two translation strategies has its own advantages and disadvantages. During translation, an interpreter is required not only to have good command of translation, but also need to grasp a foreign cultural psychological and ideological values, cultural knowledge reserve purpose countries and consider the national psychological acceptance, while standing in the source language, on the basis of national culture, realize the cultural exchanges between the two countries. This paper intends to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of domestication and foreignization in the translation of different cultures (such as tourism culture, food culture, literary works, etc.), and to select the essence and discard the dross in order to find better translation methods and achieve better cultural promotion and cross-cultural communication.

Key words

Domestication foreignization cultural-overloaded words cross-cultural communication.